Fulbright U.S. Student Program

The 2019-2020 Fulbright U.S. Student Program application will open on April 2, 2018. The NYU campus deadline will be Friday, September 7, 2018 at 4:00 pm. All application components, including references, must be submitted to Embark by this date.

Program Overview

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and administered by the Institute for International Education (IIE), offers diverse opportunities for research and cultural exchange for current U.S. students and recent graduates. Over the course of 8-12 months, Fulbright fellows are immersed in the culture and daily life of the country of their choice. Successful applicants to this program will show an interest in promoting cultural ambassadorship, and will have limited prior experience in their particular country of application (less than six months, not counting undergraduate study abroad).

The most well known is the Fulbright Study/Research Grant, which is your chance to create a research project in one of 150 countries. These grants are generally for a year. This might be academic or field research that builds on your previous research. You might propose putting theory into practice, by studying the effect of an NGO or national policy. You might well be learning from that country’s example--how do they approach a social issue that you’ve already thought about deeply?

Within this Study/Research Grant, there are also two other types of awards. You can complete a 1 year taught-Masters program in a number of countries (Australia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom) or you can also apply for an Arts Grant, with which you develop a particular artistic technique or skill set with an organization in your chosen country.

And that’s not all. Many NYU students apply to be a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in one of 75 countries, supporting a teacher in the classroom for 10-20 hours a week, and getting to know their community by developing their own community engagement project.

Eligibility: To be eligible for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, candidates must be U.S. citizens at the time of application (permanent residents are not eligible), must have conferred a bachelor's degree, and cannot hold a doctoral degree. Candidates who have conferred a doctoral degree should apply to the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Applying “through” NYU: Candidates have the choice to apply for the Fulbright program through NYU or at-large. If you decide to apply through NYU, you will follow all campus deadlines. Your application is eligible to receive assistance from the various NYU support structures available, including one-on-one writing support, and application workshops. Once you submit your application on the campus deadline, you will be contacted in early September to schedule a campus committee interview. This interview will last approximately 30 minutes and will be led by an NYU faculty committee.

Special Information for Alumni: NYU is pleased to welcome recent alumni (typically, those who have had degrees conferred within the 18 months preceding the fall Fulbright application deadline) to participate in the process of advisement, evaluation and institutional submission described above.

Where do I begin? How do I select a grant and how do I begin an application? Who do I have to contact to express interest in applying?

1. Go to the Fulbright website http://www.us.fulbrightonline.org/
2. You will need to read through the various grant descriptions. There is no short cut to this preliminary reading; quite often, the parameters of each grant will end up shaping your research subject or plan.
3. You will then need to read through the country summary pages. Each country has very specific requirements such as start date, language level, and type of placement.
4. You can then begin an Embark application, which can also be accessed through the Fulbright website.
5. Fulbright also offers live webinars to better educate potential applicants.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: Once you have familiarized yourself with the process and have selected a country and grant, as well as jotted down notes / written a draft of your statement of grant purpose and personal statement, you should schedule an appointment to discuss your application Kris Larsen or Jenni Quilter here.

GRADUATE STUDENTS: The NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development offers educational programming such as information sessions, panels, and application workshops for graduate students who are interested in the Fulbright program. To register for upcoming events, log in to your NYU CareerNet account, go to the “events” tab, select “Seminars” and enter “Fulbright” into the search field.

GRADUATE (GSAS STUDENTS): Once you have familiarized yourself with the process and have selected a country and grant, you may schedule an appointment to discuss your application with Abby Williams in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs at abby.williams@nyu.edu.

GRADUATE STUDENTS (NON GSAS STUDENTS): Each school has an appointed school-specific graduate student advisor that can assist you with your Fulbright application. Please find a link to this list here: Graduate Fellowship Advisors.

The Graduate School has designed these information sheets to help navigate the logistics of the research/study and ETA application. They are supplemental to the official Fulbright application instructions indicated on the website, and should never be relied upon in lieu of the Fulbright website.

Advice from NYU Fulbright Recipients and Finalists

Charles Kolmer (Germany, 2013):

Advice: Getting a letter of affiliation from a mentor at a host institution requires a great deal of time and energy. Don't get discouraged if potential mentors don't respond. With patience and luck, you will find someone to support your project.

Rachel Hsiung (Brazil, 2013):

Advice: The Fulbright really changed my life. For 9 months I felt completely liberated to study, think about, and work on something that I believed was important, but that fell outside of what a "normal" career path or academic path would be. It was a time period wherein I felt completely supported in my passion, thanks to the fellowship. If I had to give any advice it would be this: If you are applying for this fellowship, really dig deep to figure out what it is you would love to wake up and do every day for the rest of your life, and use the Fulbright to make that happen.

To register for calls for application, information sessions about this scholarship, and workshops, please sign up on our scholarship list-serv on our home page here.